Political Blindness

 

 

Question 1

Osho,

Atomic war is on the horizon, the deadly disease aids is spreading fast, and scientists say the earth will change its axis by the end of this century.
But why are the priests, politicians and governments not aware of these facts? And why are they not interested in making the public aware? Please comment.

 

 

It is one of the most significant questions that can be asked, but you will have to understand some deeper implications, which you may not be aware of.

The politicians and the priests have a vested interest in keeping the people of the world unaware of the future. The reason is very simple: if the people are aware of the future and the darkness ahead, the death that is coming every moment closer, there is going to be a tremendous upheaval in the consciousness of man all around the world. And the politicians and the priests, who have dominated humanity for millennia, know perfectly well they cannot solve any problem that is going to be faced by humanity in the future. They are absolutely impotent. The problems are too big and they are too small. The only way for them to save their faces is not to let the people become aware of what is happening tomorrow.

 

I have to make it clear also that politics attracts only the most mediocre minds in the world. It does not attract Albert Einsteins, Bertrand Russells, Jean-Paul Sartres, Rabindranath Tagores... No, it attracts a certain kind of people. Psychologists are aware of the fact that people who are suffering from some inferiority complex are the people to be attracted towards politics, because politics can give them power. And through power they can convince themselves and others that they are not inferior, that they are not mediocre.

 

But just attaining power makes no difference to their intelligence. So the whole world is ruled by mediocre people when we have a large number of intelligent people -- scientists, artists, musicians, poets, dancers, painters -- all kinds of sensitive, creative people, the very cream of humanity, but they are not in power. They can change the whole fabric of human history, they can change the darkness of the future into a beautiful morning, a sunrise. But the misfortune is that power is in the hands of the wrong people, and the people of intelligence are devoid of power.

 

I will tell you a small story to make it clear....

 

A great mystic heard that one of his friends, a childhood friend -- they had played together, studied together -- had become the prime minister of the country. Just to congratulate him, the mystic came down from the mountains. It was a long journey, tiring. By the time he reached the prime minister's palace, the prime minister was getting ready to go somewhere.

He recognized the mystic, but he said, "I'm sorry, I have some appointments. I have to go to three places, and I would love it if you can come with me. On the way we can talk and remember the golden old days."

The mystic said, "I would love to come with you, but you can see my rags are full of dust. It would not look right to sit by your side on a golden chariot."

 

The prime minister said, "Don't be worried. The king has presented me with a very costly overcoat. I have never used it; I have been keeping it for some special occasion. I will give you the coat. You just put it on; it will cover your clothes, the dust and everything."

 

The coat was given to him. They reached the first house. They entered the house. The prime minister introduced his friend: "He is a great mystic. He lives in the mountains. Everything that he has is his own, except the coat -- that is mine."

The mystic could not believe it: "What kind of stupidity is this?"

Even the family was shocked, to insult the mystic in such a way.

Outside the house the mystic said, "It is better I do not accompany you. You insulted me. What was the need to say that it is your coat? They were not asking."

 

He said, "I am sorry, forgive me. And if you don't come with me to the next appointment, I will think you have not forgiven me."

The mystic was a simple-hearted man. He said, "Then it is okay, I am coming."

Entering the second house, the prime minister introduced him: "He is a great mystic who lives in the mountains. Everything is his -- even the coat is his!"

The mystic could not believe that this man had any intelligence at all. Outside he simply refused: "I cannot go to your third appointment. This is too much."

 

But the politician said, "I have said that the coat is yours!" The mystic said, "It is unbelievable how unintelligent a man can be. Your assertion, emphasis, that the coat is mine, creates suspicion: there is something you are hiding. What is the need to mention the coat at all? I don't see the point that in any introduction coats need to be introduced."

And the politician said, "Forgive me, but if you don't come to the third appointment I will never forget that I have hurt you. Please, there is only one more appointment, and I will not say that the coat is yours or the coat is mine. Don't be worried about it."

The simple mystic, innocent, agreed to go with him. At the third house he introduced the mystic in the same way, "He is a great mystic from the mountains. All the clothes are his, but as far as the coat is concerned, it is better not to say anything!"

 

The politician is not the most intelligent part of humanity. Otherwise there would not have been five thousand wars in three thousand years. The politician has destroyed, but has not created anything. It is the politician who is creating the atomic weapons, the nuclear missiles. With what face can he make the people of the world aware that the future is dark, dismal?

Perhaps there is no future anymore, perhaps we are sitting on a volcano which can erupt any moment. Already we have so many nuclear weapons that we can destroy seven hundred planets of the size of our earth. In other words, we can kill everyman seven hundred times over.

Can you think of the stupidity of it? A poor man simply dies one time. There is no need to kill him seven hundred times. For what is all this nuclear arrangement being made?

 

There is a certain madness behind it. The madness is that the politician can live only if there is war. In his autobiography, Adolf Hitler has made many significant statements. One of the statements is that if a politician wants to be a great hero, a great historical figure, then the only way is to create a great war. Without war you don't have heroes.

 
Just think of all your heroes, they have been created by war: Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Nadirshah, Tamerlane, Genghis Khan, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill... And what have these people got, except that they lived at the time of a great war? The war brings them to the pinnacle of their glory. And your whole history is full of these idiots.

 

If we have any sense we should completely stop studying this kind of history in the schools and universities. Can't you study beautiful people, creative people? We have produced great musicians. We have produced great scientists. We have produced great poets. We have produced great painters. Our history should remember them. Our history should remind us that they are our real forefathers, not Genghis Khan, not Tamerlane, not Nadirshah. These are accidents, and they should not even have a place in the footnotes of history books. They should be simply ignored. They were mad people and there is no need to go on studying them and creating the same kind of desire in the new generation.

The priests are also in a deep conspiracy with the politicians. It is a thousands-of-years-old conspiracy: the priest protects the politician; the politician protects the priest. It has to be understood.

 

-Osho, "The Sword and the Lotus, #3, Q1"